Taufik goes through but Sony loses in Denmark

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Taufik Hidayat cruised through the third round with a 15-10, 15-5 win over Sergio Llopis of Spain but Sony Dwi Kuncoro failed to overcome his second-round hurdle at the Denmark Open in Aarhus, Denmark on Wednesday.

19-year-old Sony fell to local hopeful Peter Rasmussen, who is ten years older than the rising Indonesian star, 4-15, 15-12, 7- 15. The defeat means that Sony failed to even the score against the Dane, who beat him in the quarterfinals of the Korean Open earlier this year.

Taufik, who is looking to continue his winning form from his Indonesia Open title, may have taken an easy stride over the Spaniard but a potential grudge match awaits him with defending champion Chen Hong being Indonesia's top player's most likely opponent in the next round.

However, Taufik will have to tackle Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia in the third round and Chen, over whom Taufik holds a formidable upper hand in their head-to-head meetings, will face Niel Christian Kaldau.

Taufik has won all five of his matches with Chen, including back-to-back victories in the finals of the Indonesia Open in 2003 and 2002.

However, apart from his personal record with Taufik, Chen has displayed generally consistent play throughout the year by winning the Singapore Open and Malaysia Open.

In the men's doubles, with the exception of Luluk Hadiyanto/Alven Yulianto, all of the Indonesian pairs went through to the next stage.

Candra Wijaya/Halim Haryanto made light work of it with a 15- 5, 15-7 drubbing of Peter Steffensen/Thomas Laybourn of Denmark.

Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian came from behind in dispatching Mathias Boe/Michael Lamp of Denmark 9-15, 15-13, 15-7 in one hour 12 minutes.

Sigit Budiarto/Tri Kusharyanto were also stretched to three sets in their 15-13, 9-15, 15-8 win over Kim Yong-hyun/Yim Bang- eun of South Korea 15-13, 9-15, 15-8 in more than one hour and a quarter.

Luluk/Alven lost to world champions Jonas Rasmussen/Lars Paaske 15-7, 15-8.

Eny Erlangga/Lilyana Natsir were Indonesian first round casualties in the women's doubles while in the mixed doubles the team has no more contenders after its two pairs stumbled early.